Defense Begins Presenting Its Case Monday in Pastor G’s Sex Abuse Trial

WRIC
June 22, 2015

http://wric.com/2015/06/22/defense-to-begin-presenting-its-case-monday-in-pastor-gs-sex-abuse-trial/

The defense began presenting its case Monday in the Geronimo ‘Pastor G’ Aguilar trial. The former Richmond megachurch pastor is accused of sexually assaulting two young girls in Texas back in the 90’s, when he was their youth pastor.

The first witness to take the stand Monday was Samantha Aguilar, Pastor G’s wife. Samantha said on the stand that she was just a few months shy of 18-years-old when she got married to Geronimo Aguilar.

Samantha told the jury she learned that Child Protective Services (CPS) was investigating her husband after she returned from a solo trip to California. She said she never saw anything inappropriate and CPS never talked to her.

The defense then asked Samantha Aguilar what the relationship between her and Pastor G was like. She responded by saying Aguilar was a “horrible husband,” but said she stayed with him because they had children together.

Defense attorneys opened Monday by asking the judge for acquittal on three of eight counts Aguilar is facing. The judge denied the request for two of the three counts. The count dropped was a charge for touching alleged victims’ breasts.

The defense then began arguing for a motion to dismiss the case due to a lack of a speedy trial. The judge said he has ruled on the motion to dismiss before and then denied the motion.

Last week, the state of Texas rested its case against Aguilar after damning testimony from several witnesses.

The jury heard from a former Richmond Outreach Center (ROC) parishioner who says Aguilar had her wire what seemed like hush money to the alleged victims mom. The prosecution presented Western Union records as evidence.

A Texas minister and private security worker also testified that Aguilar admitted to them that he had sex with a minor.

The former ROC pastor is expected to testify on his behalf.

8News investigator Kerri O’Brien is in the courtroom and is live-tweeting the proceedings. Follow her on Twitter for the latest or check out her tweets below: